Portable ultrasonic diagnostic devices are widely spread as relatively simple and non-invasive medical image diagnostic devices. Various types of portable ultrasonic diagnostic devices which can be used not only in hospital examination rooms but also in patient rooms or outside hospitals have been developed. For example, note-type devices having a structure in which a display panel for displaying captured images or the like and an operation panel for inputting commands required for ultrasonic measurements connected to each other in an openable/closable manner at one edge have been in practical use.
Portable ultrasonic diagnostic devices are advantageous because ultrasonic images can be obtained in real time during measurement such that patients under examination can check their own ultrasonic images at the site. In order to make use of this advantage, there have been proposed devices having a display panel which is not only openable and closable but also pivotable such that patients and others in addition to an operator can view the display panel (Patent Documents 1 and 2).
In the portable ultrasonic diagnostic device described in Patent Document 1, a display housing including a display panel is connected by an arm which is pivotable with respect to a body, and thereby the display panel is not only openable and closable but also pivotable in 360 degrees about a pivot axis. Further, in the portable ultrasonic diagnostic device described in Patent Document 2, an operation panel housing provided with an operation panel and a display housing provided with a display panel are connected to one edge of a body housing such that the operation panel housing and the display housing are respectively openable and closable; and by applying a biaxial hinge mechanism in which a pivot shaft is fixed to a bearing portion of a rotation shaft for open/close movement of the display housing, pivoting of the display housing is enabled in addition to opening, closing, and tilting of the display housing.